NEW ORLEANS – The
U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA)
released its 2011 men’s track and field Division I All-Academic selections on
Wednesday and named two University of Idaho athletes among its honorees.

Senior Eugenio Mannucci, a thrower from Viterbo, Italy
(Scientific-Biological HS), and junior Jeremy Klas, a vaulter from Moscow,
Idaho (Moscow HS) earned the recognition, and both are repeat honorees.

To earn the honor, a student-athlete must hold a minimum
3.25 cumulative grade-point average, and must either finish among the nation’s
top 96 during the indoor season, or qualify for the NCAA Preliminary Round
outdoors.

“Both Jeremy and Eugenio are the complete package when it
comes to student-athletes,” Idaho director of track and field Wayne Phipps
said. “They’ve had a huge amount of success at the conference and NCAA level,
and for them to combine that with success in the classroom is excellent. That’s
what every coach hopes for in a student-athlete.”

Klas has been recognized as a USTFCCCA Division All-Academic
pick all three years of his career. He is a Computer Science major with a 3.51
cumulative GPA and was a 2011 USTFCCCA All-America Honorable Mention pick and a
2010 USTFCCCA All-American, both in the indoor pole vault. He redshirted the
2011 outdoor season.

Klas is a three-time Western Athletic Conference Champion,
five-time first-team all-WAC honoree, three-time NCAA qualifier and holds Idaho’s
indoor school record of 17-9 (5.41m) in the men’s pole vault. He is also a
two-time CoSIDA Second-Team Academic All-District VIII selection.

Mannucci’s honor is the second of his career and adds to his
laundry list of academic accomplishments. The senior earned his degree in
Animal and Veterinary Science (Pre-Vet) in December with a 3.75 GPA. He was
selected Pre-Vet Senior of the Year in the College of Animal and Life Sciences
and last week, was honored with the WAC’s Stan Bates Award – the conference’s
top award, which honors one male and female as the top scholar-athlete in the
league.

Mannucci was a 2011 USTFCCCA All-America Second Team
selection after finishing 16th in the men’s shot put. He is a three-time WAC
champion, including both the indoor and outdoor titles in 2011. He was a
five-time first-team all-WAC honoree, and his outdoor career best heave of
60-5.75 (18.43m) at the WAC Championships goes down as the sixth-best in Idaho
history.

“We’ve been fortunate to have a lot of guys on our team who
take their academics very seriously, and that’s important to us,” Phipps said. “We’re
recruiting student-athletes who can do outstanding work in the classroom and put
in the work on the athletics side, too.”

Idaho’s men have earned the academic recognition 11 times
since 2007. WAC athletes earned 11 total honors for the 2011 season and the organization
recognized a total of 420 student-athletes from 153 institutions. USTFCCCA
All-Academic women’s teams will be released on Thursday, Aug. 4.

For more information about the USTFCCCA All-Academic
program, as well as a full list of honorees, visit www.ustfccca.org.